to make a fool of someone
Preserved but no longer current.
To mislead him. Young men think old men fools, old men know young men are. An old saying quoted by Cam- den m his Remains (1605, p. 228) as by a certain Dr. Metcalfe. It occurs also in Chap- man's All Fools, v, 2 (acted 1599).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to make a fool of someone” mean?
To mislead him. Young men think old men fools, old men know young men are. An old saying quoted by Cam- den m his Remains (1605, p. 228) as by a certain Dr. Metcalfe. It occurs also in Chap- man's All Fools, v, 2 (acted 1599).
Is “to make a fool of someone” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.